If philately can command one’s attention into the second year, probability is high for the collector to be on course into specializing in some way. The rationale being it is overwhelming to collect everything. Countries have steeply increased stamp issue rate - from tens of different stamps per annum in the early part of the 20th century, to be in the hundreds now - a rate that makes it trying for philatelists to keep up for various reasons. Philatelists on their part started specializing. The types of specializations a philatelist can branch-out into are:

Thematic: These are collections based on some theme. Catalogs and albums geared towards thematic collectors abound. Thematic can be classified broadly into :

Country: Specializing by country is high in the popularity list. Usually, gathering stamps from one’s native country or countries to which an individual has some connection (adopted country, a country in the same region as you reside, country where you work or have worked before, country whose causes you support etc.) are obvious choices. Another alternative is to accumulate stamps from countries that are a challenge to come by due to political or other grounds. Those include collecting stamps from areas that ceased issuing stamps. Some of the more popular areas for serious collectors include:

The Triple Leveraged ETFs which debuted in November 2008 is still considered as a relatively new product from Direxion. Direxion is a 1997 private enterprise focused in specialized investment products. Below is a list of some of the most popular Direxion Triple Leveraged ETFs:

Product

Ticker Symbol

Performance Benchmark

Direxion Energy Bear 3X Shares

ERY

300% the inverse of the return of an investment in the Russell 1000 Energy Index.

Direxion Energy Bull 3X Shares

ERX

300% the return of an investment in the Russell 1000 Energy Index.

Direxion Financial Bear 3X Shares

FAZ

300% the inverse of the return of an investment in the Russell 1000 Financial Services Index.

Direxion Financial Bull 3X Shares

FAS

300% of the return of an investment in the Russell 1000 Financial Services Index.

Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares

BGZ

300% the inverse of the return of an investment in the Russell 1000 large-cap index.

Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares

BGU

300% of the return of an investment in the Russell 1000 large-cap index.

Direxion Small Cap Bear 3X Shares

TZA

300% the inverse of the return of an investment in the Russell 2000 small-cap index.

Direxion Small Cap Bull 3X Shares

TNA

300% of the return of an investment in the Russell 2000 small-cap index.

The 300% leverage is achieved by using futures contracts and swap contracts. Below is a look at how the expenses associated with leverage affects the overall performance (taken from Direxion leveraged fund introduction sheet):

The expected return sample assumes a benchmark return of 2% for the bull fund and a -2% return for the bear fund. As shown, the impact of expenses is minimal on a daily basis – in fact, for the bear fund, there is investment income associated with creating the leverage as opposed to an expense for the bull fund because, the bear fund uses short-selling which realizes income that can be invested to produce daily income.

The question to help figure out the risk associated with the leverage is: What happens to an investment in one of these funds (either bull or bear), if the associated index goes up more than 33.34% one day and follows it up with a 33.34% down day? – The answer is that your investment will go to zero – the up-day will wipe out the bear fund while the down-day will wipe out the bull fund. Such an outcome is unlikely but helps demonstrate the fact that in volatile markets that lack direction, these investment options can lose value very quickly. A more realistic example in a market that lacks direction using FAS and FAZ and assuming FAS and FAZ along with the associated index value is all at 100 at the start of the first trading day:

End of Day

Index Performance Percentage

Index Value

FAS Value

FAZ Value

One

-3.00

97.00

91.00

109.00

Two

+3.00

99.91

99.19

99.19

Three

-5.00

94.91

84.30

114.07

Four

+10.00

104.41

109.59

79.85

So, over the course of just 4-days, there is an underperformance - FAS should have been at 113.23 and FAZ should have been at 86.77. Another example that uses FAS and the same assumptions in a market that is in a steady up-trend follows:

End of Day

Index Performance Percentage

Index Value

FAS Value

FAZ Value

One

+3.00

103.00

109.00

91.00

Two

+2.00

105.06

115.54

85.54

Three

+5.00

110.31

132.87

72.71

Four

+4.00

114.72

148.81

63.98

In this scenario, there is an outperformance when compared to the target index value at the end of the fourth day – FAS should have been 144.16 and FAZ should have been at 55.84. Similar outperformance exists in a steady down-market as well.

Summary:

It is critical to understand the use of leverage and how it impacts the performance of the funds over a period of time. Since these funds track the performance of the associated index at 3 X (or inverse) leverage on a DAILY basis, it is not possible to mimic the performance of the associated index over a period of time. As the latter spreadsheets indicate, if one can guess the market direction correctly, the funds can provide outperformance over the period of time anticipated. Conversely, in a market that lacks direction, these funds are unsuitable.

The legitimate question that begs is if one can get 3X leverage using these funds, why not funds that have leverage 5X, 10X, 100X, etc. Presumably, one can strike gold overnight by guessing the market direction correctly for a single day by holding a 100X leveraged fund. While the advantage is undeniable, technically it is impossible to increase leverage much further – margin requirements limit the amount of leverage possible. A commonly overlooked factor is that the chances of these funds going to zero over a short period of time increases as the leverage increases. Looking at the performance of FAZ/FAZ since its inception should make this pretty obvious - both these indexes show large negative returns over the few years since inception, indicating a strong possibility of both going to zero eventually.

We have nibbled a few times on FAS/FAZ per our previous tweets and blog posts. Following the March lows, we entered FAS for four days realizing a good return and followed it up with a few intra-day round trips that had a net effect of a small positive return. Our opinion is that these products are suitable for the following scenarios:

The benchmark index is at extremely overbought levels. Entering the bear-funds at such levels should prove beneficial over the short-term (a few days).

The benchmark index is at extremely oversold levels. Entering the bull-funds at such levels should prove beneficial over the short-term (a few days).

You anticipate a steady bull/bear market for the benchmark index. Entering the bull/bear funds during such market conditions should prove beneficial over the anticipated period (longer term).

Day trading – when the benchmark index is extremely volatile, there is an opportunity to do roundtrips to realize small profits (intra-day).

Because of the leverage and associated risks, the above strategies should only be used with small portions of your overall portfolio. But, the risk-reward ratio is good assuming your strategies are sound and comfortable to work with.

Many philatelists resort to bidding on eBay and/or other online forums at some point to add on to their collection. For a novice, to avoid getting fleeced it is best to be familiar with the terms used as well as with the tactics employed by both dealers and bidders. This post focuses on how to bid successfully on eBay lots while steering clear of the gotchas.

The following guidelines can be handy when purchasing stamps on eBay:

Buy It Now: Touted as the no-hassle way to buy something on eBay, availing of this option is unfortunately the most expensive way to purchase from eBay. For a small percentage of eBay lots, the Seller sets a sale price (Buy It Now price). To buy the item bypassing the bidding process, all that needs to be done is to use the ‘Buy It Now’ button and pay the asking price.

Buy it Now or Best Offer: This is a variation of ‘Buy It Now’ but with a little spin - the buyer can provide a counter-offer stating the amount he is willing to pay for the item. The seller can choose to either accept the highest offer or list the item again. Again, the buyer is at a disadvantage as there are no guarantees on getting the item even if one is the highest bidder.

Reserve vs. No Reserve: Certain lots on eBay have a reserve price indicating the seller’s unwillingness to part with an item below a certain price. The reserve price is not published, but once a bid goes above the reserve price, the listing will reflect that the reserve has been met. This is one way sellers protect themselves against low-ball winning bidders.

Free Shipping: This is an incentive from the seller’s part but is usually limited to local (within the same country) shipping.

Watching Items and History Search: It is good strategy to research items of interest before actually bidding on them. Any item on eBay can be placed on one’s watch list. Carefully analyzing the bidding history for items in the watch list can position one better when it comes to placing a bid. Another approach to track similar lots on eBay is to search for the item using the ‘Advanced Search’ option and then selecting the ‘Completed Listings’ check box. This will provide a result set of the price realized for completed auctions of the searched term.

Bidding Strategies: Employing proxy bidding is the best overall strategy for eBay stamp lots. The strategy involves bidding with the maximum price you are willing to pay for and the high bid will be listed as one increment over the existing high-bid or the starting price whichever is higher – Proxy bids happen automatically until your maximum bid is reached as others bid on the same item. This strategy helps avoid several pitfalls: a) Shill bidding – an illegitimate strategy used by sellers to artificially inflate the price of a listing by self-bidding by means of a separate ID or similar tactic, b) Bid Shielding – another illegitimate strategy where three or more IDs are used – the first places a low ball bid while the others place artificially high bids. The high bids are retracted just before the end of the auction, leaving the low-ball bid as the winning bid, c) Sniping– a proxy bid placed seconds before the end of an auction. This is a legitimate strategy although some consider it unfair. There are online services like gixen.com that automates sniping for you, and d) Incremental Low-Balling – a legitimate strategy used mostly by greenhorn eBayers whereby they bid just enough to lead the auction but continue doing so every time they get outbid. A variation of the same is when experienced buyers do incremental bidding but with bigger chunks to discourage incremental low-balling.

Dealer Strategies: Since buyers do not see the item physically, the bid is based on the Images, Title, Description, and Quality rating. Alas, technology favors the dealer – it helps enhance desirability by disguising the true nature of the item. Carefully consider the feedback of sellers to alleviate potential problems.

High-values: This just implies that the face value of stamps when purchased from the post-office is high. For Used stamps, having this description does not enhance the value of the listing and so categorizing them as ‘High-Value’ is deceitful. In contrast, for MNH listings, this is useful information.

Re-listings: These happen when buyers do not honor their end of the bargain; mostly it is failing to pay for the items they bought.

Second-Bid Offers: These are offers from eBay sellers soliciting you to buy the item as the owner of the second-highest bid because the highest bidder backed off. It is illegitimate to do so per eBay rules and chances are high for the solicitation to be a scam.

Retracting: For certain special circumstances eBay permits retracting a bid. But, this option should be avoided as far as possible and the onus is on the buyer to perform due diligence on EVERYTHING before placing a bid.

In general, being aware of strategies used to gain an advantage in the bidding process and having a clear-cut proxy bidding strategy should help avoid paying more for items you want to bid. We still recall our misery when our winning bid on one pound of High-values turned out to include nothing other than used $1 stamps and that too the same stamp.

Update: Stamps shipping from China now have very modest shipping charges as there is a shipping agreement between eBay and the postal services of USA & China. This is something to be aware of when bidding for lots shipping from China.

Mutual funds (open-end fund) draw on money from investors to acquire stocks, bonds, or other assets. In return investors receive shares of the mutual fund proportional to these invested assets. The funds are considered open-end for the reason that shares can be continually issued or redeemed based on investor demand. Also absent for mutual funds is the secondary market– Investors buy shares from the mutual fund and redeem it by selling it back – no trading occurs between investors. On the other hand, with exchange traded instruments (ETFs, ETNs, and CEFs), shares outstanding increase or decrease less frequently and only in large chunks (multiple of “creation units”). They are called Exchange Traded as there is a secondary market for these instruments where they can be traded identical to any other stock.

The spreadsheet below compares the features of exchange traded instruments with mutual funds:

Comparison Term

Mutual Fund

Exchange Traded Instruments

Trades in an Exchange

No – bought/sold from/to the mutual fund company

Yes – Trades just like a stock.

Price

Net Asset Value (NAV) at the End of the Trading Day

Market Value that varies through-out the day. Could trade at a premium or discount to NAV.

Purchase Costs

More – except no-load mutual funds that do not have front and back-end loads – they still charge a small fee in most cases

Less – Brokerage fees and the bid-ask spread which is both relatively small.

Ongoing Fees

More – Actively managed funds have much higher fees while index mutual funds have lower fees although usually not as low as comparable Exchange Traded Instruments

Less.

Automatic Dividend Reinvestment

Yes

No

Options

No – not traded in stock exchanges at all

Yes

Granular Purchase Option

Yes – you can buy for any amount as long as minimums are met

No – you have to purchase whole shares (not fractional).

Minimum Investment Requirements

Mostly Yes

No with some exceptions

Portfolio Turnover

More – no protection against other investors redeeming shares thereby forcing the fund to realize capital gains/losses

Less – Immunity from tax consequences due to other investor activity

Capital Gains Taxes

Yes – ongoing

No – only when sold.

Cash Drag (Performance impact due to holding cash instead of other investments)

More – mutual funds usually hold more cash to satisfy on-going redemptions

Less – with certain exchange traded instruments that are structured as Unit Investment Trust there can be a cash drag because of a regulatory requirement to hold dividends in non-interest bearing accounts until distribution.

The three types of Exchange Traded Instruments (ETF, ETN, and CEF) can be summarized as:

ETF:

- With an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), assets are acquired by selling large blocks of shares called “creation units.” Selling large blocks is a regulatory requirement and allows for the formation of a secondary market. Since no money is exchanged in the primary market (creation units are exchanged for large blocks), there is no tax event at that level. The creation units are sold, after being separated into a large number of individual shares, thus forming the secondary market.

ETN:

- Exchange Traded Notes (ETN) is structured as a debt instrument. Debt instruments by nature are prone to credit risk – risk involved with the debtor (in this case the entity that issues ETNs) not honoring the obligation. This situation arises if the issuing entity goes bankrupt or runs into financial trouble. ETN’s promise a return tied to an index or other market benchmark (less fees). As with ETFs, “creation units” and secondary market creation are applicable to ETNs too. However, ETNs are a riskier investment option due to the added credit risk involved – this risk is somewhat mitigated by the fact that issuing agencies usually have good credit ratings.

CEF:

- Closed End Funds (CEF) are launched through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) process and the funds realized are then invested. Shares are traded in stock exchanges thereby forming the secondary market. Since a fixed amount of money is raised at IPO, shares outstanding remain stable.

Below is a spreadsheet that summarizes how they differ from each other:

Comparison Term

ETF

ETN

CEF

Investor Holds

Shares that represent assets held

Shares that represent a Senior Debt Contract

Shares that represent assets held.

Recourse

Assets Held

Issuer Credit

Assets Held

Risk

Market

Market & Issuer

Market. The portfolio may use leverage which is an additional risk.

Institutional (multiple of creation unit) Redemption

Custodian

Issuer

NA

Benchmark Tracking Error

Yes

No – it is a prepaid contract

Yes

Valuation

Net Asset Value (NAV) – usually trades close to this value

Indicative Value based on associated benchmark level

Net Asset Value (NAV) – can trade at a significant premium or discount.

Maturity

None – investors can redeem anytime at multiples of “creation unit”

Varies – can be a few years to 30 years or more – investor receives cash that conforms with the investment return promised (benchmark return minus fees)

There are several thousands of mutual funds with more than ten trillion in assets under management. This compares to around thousand exchange traded instruments with close to a trillion in assets. Even so, exchange traded instruments offers far more flexibility and the fees on the average are fewer explaining the faster growth of exchange traded instruments compared to mutual funds. There are distinct structural differences within the three exchange traded instruments with associated differences in their investment and risk profiles. As with any investment vehicle, careful consideration needs to be given to these factors before committing money.

A 101 primer to bring to speed those not familiar with Swagbucks, - it is a search engine that promises “swag bucks” as gratis for conducting searches using their search engine interface. These swag bucks can then be traded for gift cards and other products available at the Swag Store – buying power varies – an Amazon.com $5 gift card can be purchased with 45 swag bucks while an iTunes $15 gift card costs 145 swag bucks. Swag bucks are sometimes referred to as digital dollars which is a misnomer – one swag buck dollar roughly equates to 12-15 cents and cannot be converted to real money – merchandize or gift cards has to be purchased from the site to realize the value.

Swagbucks the brainchild of Prodege LLC, is an LA startup specializing in “branded search engines”. Branded search engines allow for swag bucks to be earned and exchanged in the “store” portion of the site to buy brand related merchandize. Akin to the Google or Yahoo search toolbar, a branded search engine tool bar can also be downloaded and plugged into the browser for single click searches allowing for easier use. Other popular such sites include searchwithkanyewest.com, searchwithbeyonce.com, and searchwithrandymoss.com. The home page for Swagbucks is comparable with its branded counterparts where users accumulate credit and redeem them on a variety of merchandize.

The business model of Swagbucks is not complicated. Search interfaces like Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Yahoo clearly differentiate between organic and sponsored search results. It is this distinction that holds supreme the search engine’s ranking of the importance of a page based on the search string – interleaving this result set with sponsored links defeats this purpose. This is the niche exploited by the likes of search engines as Prodege: they return interleaved results and rewards users for that inconvenience. They license the search technology from two of the big search engine providers but the licensing fee, rewards to users, and the company’s business profitability are supported through sponsored interleaved links in the site. Hinged on this interleaved nature of the links is the expectation of much higher and relevant click-through rates and fees. The screen shots below display how Swagbucks search engine result screen compare to that of Google for the same search string:

SwagBucks Top Five Results Display for "Investing 101" search:

Google Top Five Results Display for "Investing 101" search:

Summary and Recommendation:

Our history with Swagbucks is now in its fourth month. Google is still our primary search engine, but we frequent the Swagbucks toolbar we have in place. In these four months, we earned close to 250 swag bucks and availed Amazon.com gift cards from the site – please refer to our tweets at twitter.com for a history of our gift card redemptions and earnings pattern. The reward is indeed a draw else there is little rhyme and reason to venture past one’s primary search site (Google or one of the other big search interface providers). There is no denying that additional time is spent on sifting the organic results in the site and the time value of money may not be justified in the earnings through Swag Bucks. However, with buying decisions, Swagbucks searches can be complementary – in the research phase of a buying decision, the primary search site can provide relevant material quickly and once the buying decision is in place, Swagbucks turn interesting as they also deliver vendor offerings in an interleaved manner.

To recap, the inclination to use the Swagbucks site for routine daily searches for information is best curbed at the very onset as significant time can be spent sifting through sponsored results. Likewise, in the research phase of a product buying decision, a better option is the primary search engine. However, once a buying decision is made, our recommendation is to use both search engines to arrive at the best deal possible. We will continue to use Swagbucks in this manner…

3/2010 Update: As of 2/25/2010, SwagBucks was inflated by 10 times. Previously, you needed 45 SwagBucks for a $5 Amazon.com Gift Card. Now, it will take 450. The good news is that your existing SwagBucks and new awards are also inflated by 10 times and so there is no real change.

The postings over the last few weeks focused on the vocabulary used for stamp varieties, nicknames, errors and other famous stamps. This post is more of a glossary of popular terms every promising philatelist should know. Below is our list:

Term

Explanation

Albino

A stamp with die colors completely missing

Bank Mixture

Stamps usually on paper sourced from a financial institution.

Bourse

A stamp show or marketplace where stamps are bought & sold.

Boxed Postmark

A rectangular postmark as opposed to the normal circular ones.

Bridge

A small band of paper between perforations in sheets of stamps.

Bull’s Eye

Stamps with cancel with date right in the middle of the design.

Catalogue Value

The retail value of postage stamps as mentioned in one of the major stamp catalogues

Centering

Position of the design of the stamp in relation to the paper it is printed on

Circular Date Stamp (CDS) Postmark

A circular cancel that shows date & place of mailing.

Compound Perforation

Stamps with different perforations on the sides

Crash cover

A letter salvaged from a wreck that has been delivered with a postal mark explaining the damage

Die

The metal on which stamp designs are made (engraved or etched) for production

A stamp with two cancels – one indicating location & date and the other a mark that obliterates the design.

Face Value or Denomination

The amount of money paid when purchasing a stamp from the postal service

Fancy Cancel

A cancel that has a pictorial design of its own.

First-flight Cover

A cover that was carried on a first flight opening a new airmail route – a cachet describing the event is usually part of the cover design

Gutter

The space between two adjacent stamps in a sheet

Handstamped

Cancelled by hand using a rubber stamp or similar device

Imperforate between

Two stamps attached together with perforations on all sides but either the vertical or horizontal middle perforations missing

Imprint

Any information printed on the selvage of a stamp sheet.

Laid paper

A type of paper used to manufacture stamps characterized by parallel lines (horizontal or vertical) visible when held against light

Lightly Hinged (LH)

Hinged so that the hinge mark is barely noticeable.

Variety

Same stamp but with differences in color, perforation, watermark, etc

Microprinting

Printing made of tiny lettering on some postage stamps used as a security device, part of the design, and/or identification

Mint

Stamps that were not used for postage

Mint, never hinged (MNH)

An unhinged uncanceled stamp

Mission Mixture

Stamps usually on paper sourced from a charitable mission.

Mute

Stamps with no identification markings. Also applies to cancels as in “mute cancels” when the cancellation doesn’t have any information

Numeral Cancelations

Cancelations that use numbers to identify mailing office

Offices Abroad

Stamps of one country used in another country characterized by overprints

On cover

Stamps collected on the original envelope.

Oxidized

A stamp that has changed color due to oxidation.

Pen cancelation

A cancelation applied by pen

Pictorial Cancel

A cancelation with a distinct design

Plate

A sheet of metal on which stamp design is engraved for printing

Plate Number

A number shared by all sheets of stamps run through a given plate.

Quadrille

A type of stamp album page that have ruled squares that help with arranging stamps in the page.

Regummed

Stamps with gum applied after issue usually to defraud collectors.

Rouletting

Slits between certain types of stamp sheets that facilitate separation.

Safety Paper

Special paper used by postal authorities to make stamps that make it difficult to forge

Selvage

The portion of a stamp sheet that is not part of a stamp.

Service Inscription

A stamp design in which the type of service is indicated as part of the design.

Shade

Minor color freaks.

Sheet

A set of stamps joined together produced from a single plate

Silk

A special type of paper used by postal authorities for stamp production in which silk threads are included as part of the paper making mixture used as a security measure to prevent forgery.

Slabbing

The procedure of encasing stamps in tamper-protected casing, usually after grading/authentication.

Socked on the nose

A cancel that obliterates the design in a stamp.

Stain

Paper discoloration in a stamp.

Straight Edge

A stamp with no perforations on one or more sides (but not all)

Tag

phosphor coating on stamps that aid with automatic mail handling

Tēte-bēche

A pair of stamps connected together, but with one upside down

Thematics

Collecting by a theme

Tied to cover

A cancelation that ties a stamp to a cover. Relevant when a particular collectible cover is valuable with the original canceled stamp on it.

Ungummed

Stamps that were issued with no gum by the postal authority

Unhinged

Stamps that were never hinged

Used

Stamps that were used for postage

Universal Postal Union (UPU)

International postal body that standardize postal usage across countries.

Wove paper

A smooth paper used in stamp production

Though this word list is not all encompassing by any measure, they do rank high in popularity. As always, if you are aware of a term that you believe should be in this list, please comment or let us know by using the “Contact Us” link and we will be sure to incorporate it.

This post is the finale in the series of famous and rare stamps. Though these stamps lack a specific nickname per se, they are renowned and of exceptional value. They are referred to by the year, denomination, and country - the first stamp in the below list is popular as the 1850 2-cent British Guiana or simply the 2-cent Guiana. Any such list based purely on value will have a high concentration of stamps from the USA. US collectors are a majority in the serious stamps collectors sector and tend to specialize in US stamps. Below is our list of famous rare stamps:

Stamp

Explanation

Sample or Copy in the same series

1850, 2c – British Guiana

Only few copies known to exist. Sometimes called 2c circular Guiana.

1858, 81p – Moldavia

First stamps of Romania – Only a few 100s were ever sold and fewer still remain. The 27p, 54p, and 108p versions in the same series are also very rare.

1860, 3c – Tuscany

Very few issued because of its relatively high face value – hence, very rare. It depicts the arms of the House of Savoy.

1878, 1d – Transvaal

Some of the 1d, red on blue stamp of this series has an error – the name is spelled ‘Tranvral”. Occurs only in the first printing and so extremely rare. There are also Tete-beche pairs in the same series which are also very rare.

1859, 4p Imperforate – Ceylon

The rarest of Ceylon’s first stamps that include 8p, 9p, 1s, and 2s in the same series

1948, 10r Gandhi “Service” Overprint

Only 100 copies exist – issued exclusively for the use of the Governor General – so extremely rare & valuable.

1896, 1p Trinidad

Few copies have the denomination overprint missing making them extremely valuable

1869, 30c – USA

Depicts Shield, Eagle, and Flags – there is an inverted flags error in a few of them which make them extremely rare

1869, 24c – USA

Depicts signing the declaration of independence in the center – there is an inverted center design error in some of them that make them extremely rare

1869, 15c – USA

Depicts “landing of Columbus” as the design in the center – some have this design inverted making them extremely rare

1851, 12p – Canada

Depicts Queen Victoria in Black

There are several other stamps that have errors that make them extremely rare. Rare examples from each country will be covered in future posts on country profiles.